Logic & Sanity

Shoot out on Ocean Parkway

Cops in riot gear stormed a building Saturday, searching for a gunman who shot and killed a college student during an early-morning argument near Gravesend, Brooklyn.

Allen Tahiraj, 19, died after being shot in the chest as he hung out with friends on Ocean Parkway about 3:30 a.m., police said.

"There was a little argument and one of the kids pulled a gun," said Chris Mayer, a friend of the victim's. "[Tahiraj] tried to pull it out of his hand."

Witnesses said the gunman, believed to be in his 20s, ran into a building on Ocean Parkway near Avenue P, sending dozens of police in helmets and riot gear pouring into its hallways.

As portions of the building were evacuated, police brought in a tanklike armored vehicle, ropes, battering rams, drills, cameras and other equipment. All traffic was halted for several blocks north and south on the parkway.

From the NY Daily News, NY Times has more:

The police said they were still investigating the circumstances and motives of the dispute, although residents described open drug dealing in the neighborhood.

“This is my territory, and no one is going to take it from me!” one youth screamed, according to a woman whose windows overlooked the scene. Two baseball bats had come out, a long-barreled revolver had been drawn and the two groups — with a half-dozen young men in each — were closing on each other.

Albanians dealing drugs in Bensonhurst and Midwood? Who knew?

A jewel?

A 23-year-old man was shot dead just after he stepped out of a luxury car outside a Queens housing project early Saturday, police said.

Carl Fuller Jr. got of his Lexus sedan and was speaking to a female passenger when he was shot once in the head by a gunman who had been hiding behind a trash bin, police said.

The gunman hopped into a waiting getaway car near the Baisley Park Houses just after 4 a.m., police said. Fuller's passenger was not hurt.

Fuller, who worked as a maintenance man in the Redfern Houses in Far Rockaway, had prior arrests for rape, grand larceny and drug possession.

A public housing maintenance man driving around in a "luxury car"? Holy crap, not only was he maintaining, but he was representin' as well!

His father said he was taking steps to turn his life around.

"There is a robbery that has taken place - the world has lost a jewel," said Carl Fuller Sr., an assistant pastor at the Deliverance Church of God and Christ in Jamaica. "He was loyal to other people to a fault. He couldn't do enough to help others."

A jewel? I bet his victims would beg to differ. More like the world lost a CZ.

He might have had better luck selling the Brooklyn Bridge...

November 17, 2007 -- A homeless Ivory Coast immigrant pleaded guilty yesterday to trying to steal a chic high-rise hotel.

Kouadio Kouassi, 47, has been jailed since last December, when he repeatedly tried to file phony deeds for the $76 million Soho Grand so that its ownership would be transferred to him.

He is expected to be sentenced to one year in prison for attempted grand larceny when he returns to Manhattan State Supreme Court on Nov. 30.

But since that is about as much time as he has already spent behind bars, Kouassi is likely to be released - and then face deportation.

City officials said they became suspicious when Kouassi filed documents last Nov. 22 claiming that the Hartz Group had turned over the 363-room hotel to him.

...or claiming that Bush stole his presidency...

Another perspective on the Brigada/Marat Krivoi case

If you've been following the The Brigada case, you might want to check out a blog maintained by one of Vitaly Ivanitsky's jurors:

I remember Vitaly Ivanitsky leaning back into his chair, staring at nothing in particular or attempting to draw Krivoi's attention. It worried me that he was altogether too dependent on the ability of Marat Krivoi to protect him. I remember Marat's attorney, Breitbart, jingling change in his pocket as he considered his next question. Another memory is of prosecuting attorney Blank letting out his breath in a nervous huff from time to time. I thought it was amusing but it drove Vitaly's attorney, Montgomery, insane. But most of all I remember my uneasy antipathy toward Pyotr Sarkisov...

Much more here.

More details on Gosman and "Brigada"

Just found a new article with a plethora of details on Natham Gosman, Marat Krivoi and Brigada. Apparently, Gosman struck a deal with the prosecution hoping for some leniency when it comes to his sentencing. Purely a desperation move, as he's facing life without the possibility of parole.

“I kept my participation to a minimum,” was how he characterized the version of Kobozev’s murder he gave during an exchange with the two federal agents during the flight back to the United States from Poland, where Grozman [sic] had flown earlier in the company of U.S. embassy officials from the Ukraine.

I highly doubt that to be true. Nathan is a sadistic individual and I clearly recall him telling me in graphic detail about how he beat an acquaintance of ours to a bloody pulp. He did mention that he only felt bad for the kid after he threw him down a flight of stairs, at the end of the beating. I highly doubt that he would shy away from any type of violence. In fact, he would most likely be the one encouraging it. I'ld go as far as to say that if you were to make a list of all the people I've ever known and asked me which one of them was most inclined to murder, I'ld point to Nathan even if I didn't know what he was up to.

There's a bit in there about how Nathan's first murder was commited in 1994. Last time I saw and talked to him was around 1995-96 - at that point he was already a murderer. Quite disturbing.

As I mentioned there's a bunch of new details (like him fleding to Ukraine with false docs via the Mexico-Cuba-Moscow-Kiev route) in here, so read up!

"dimly lit"

Jermaine Washington picked the wrong people to rob yesterday, cops said.

Washington, an ex-con with 33 prior arrests, hid in the bushes along a dimly lit path in Manhattan's Riverside Park just after midnight, intent upon holding up the next two people he encountered, police said.

Unfortunately for Washington, those two people were a pair of armed and uniformed rookie cops.

"It was stupid criminal tricks," said a police source. "The guy didn't even look to see who was coming."

Seems that it's not just the path that was dimly lit. But what's a guy with 33 arrests doing on the street, anyway?

Justice coming, after 15 years

Two immigrants allegedly linked to the Russian mob went on trial yesterday in two gruesome 1992 murders finally solved last year when federal snitches came forward.

"These murders remained unsolved for 13 years," prosecutor John Holmes told two Brooklyn Supreme Court juries for Marat Krivoi, 37, and Vitaly Ivanitsky, 33.

The men are accused of executing Boris Roitman, 21, in August 1992 and pool hustler Thien Diep, 24, four months later.

A friend of mine was pulled a gun on and robbed by either these fellows or the members of their crew back in the early 1990's. Luckily, he didn't share the fate of the above mentioned victims. Gruesome details of the murders and details of the case can be read here. Further reading: the original FBI indictment, other related posts.

Idiot of the week

A routine test drive turned into a frightening carjacking for a Manhattan salesman yesterday when his would-be buyer kicked him out of the vehicle and drove off, police said.

But the dim-witted customer was caught shortly after the brazen 11 a.m. ripoff when he returned to the showroom on 11th Ave., police said.

"He left a copy of his license at the dealer," said an investigator at the scene. "Not a smart guy."

Adhanom Hayet, 26, had been driving the maroon 2007 Nissan Murano around the West Side with the salesman when he suddenly shoved the dealer out of the SUV at 60th St. and Broadway.

Minutes later, Hayet showed up at the Potamkin showroom where he parked the SUV and walked away, but not before the salesman arrived in a police cruiser and pointed him out, cops said.

After a short foot chase involving some two dozen police, Hayet was tackled and arrested at 10th Ave. and 51st St., witnesses said.

Definately not too bright! But ofcourse he's not a criminal or anything, his mother has a theory

Carol Adhanom said her son, who has no prior arrests, came to New York to visit college friends. She said the incident was “out of character” for her son and suggested that something might have set him off.

“Maybe the salesman said something racially motivated,” she said. “Theres a lot missing from this puzzle.”

If the salesman was a racist wouldn't he not even let her bundle of joy take the test drive? Why this specific theory? Hey, I got a better one! How about - the salesman gave him the car as a gift and then changed his mind! Bastard! :(

Our justice system is f'd!

At the trial, prosecutors noted he had been bounced from Syracuse University after similar incidents in women's dorm rooms had led to four arrests for burglary.

Fisher's latest arrest was on May 30, when he was allegedly caught naked and masturbating on the stoop in front of his home.

Fisher lives a half-block from the Bleecker Park playground, and less than a mile from several public and private schools.

He was charged with public lewdness and exposure, then freed without bail despite being a registered sex offender on 10 years' probation since his release in 2004.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office asked for $3,000 bail and mentioned his history of sexual abuse, but Fisher was turned loose by Judge Tanya Kennedy.

Kennedy took flak earlier this year for letting recidivist rapper Busta Rhymes go free again and again despite repeated arrests for violent crimes.

The Probation Department said Fisher is required to report in every day.

"We think he's dangerous, and we're monitoring him as closely as possible," a spokesman said.

I don't understand. If this guy is deemed dangerous then why is he out!?

A crack dealing midget 's life cut short...

Cops found a huge .380-caliber pistol in the waistband of little person Joshua Agard, 18, along with 15 vials of crack that he was peddling while hanging out in a courtyard with pal Manuel Zabater, who was also killed in the attack.

"He was just so big. So [I thought], how much could he get into?" said distraught neighbor Debra Daniels, 61. "He was a good person. I loved him."

Though Agard was just 3 feet tall, he had a police record a mile long. So far this year, he had been busted twice, once on assault charges for throwing a bottle at a man's head and once for trespassing when he was caught inside 425 E. 105th St. He also had two other arrests, cops said.

The final, fatal trouble for Agard came at about 4:30 a.m. yesterday while he and Zabater, beers in hand, were in the courtyard of the East River Houses project on East 105th Street.

According to cops, three or four black males approached and, without saying a word, blasted Agard several times.

Witnesses told The Post that the project grounds were clear of the usual cast of thugs at the time of the shooting, indicating that many knew the hit would be going down.

As rounds tore through the tiny target's head and torso, Zabater committed an act of bravery when he rushed to his friend's side and tried to pull him to cover, witnesses said. That's when Zabater - who was on parole for drugs - was hit twice in the torso.

The gunmen fled and were still at large yesterday. Both victims were taken to local hospitals, where they died.

Looks like this dwarf was selling snowhite.